In Which I Shoot Myself In the Foot Repeatedly (Metaphorically Speaking Of Course)

Yesterday was probably the longest day of my life to date and most of that (luckily not all of it) was my fault. Here I raise a caveat (look at the law school lingo coming out). The following post will have a lot of instances where I clearly used less than half of my brain and the part that I did use I don't think was working properly. If you would like to keep the image of me being totally brilliant (that I'm sure you have), don't read any farther.


I had to go in early yesterday to get reading done because I decided going to an activity and trying to meet people would be more beneficial to my overall sanity than struggling through Contracts Monday night. Luckily I got everything done just in time to attend a painfully boring lecture about what an environmental lawyer does which only succeeded in helping me check that off the list of potential fields of law to go into.


Next stop was lunch with my Contracts professor (yup the one I am terrified of). The law school gives money to all the first year professors to take their students out to lunch so that we feel more comfortable going to talk with them and such. I already had lunch with my legal research and writing professors last week. This one was different though. It was Contracts, my dreaded class. You would think that I would realize that it would be in my best interest to get on good terms with said professor. Of course I'm not that clever. Somehow in the course of the group conversation (we go in small groups...not alone...that would be awkward) I manage to tell him how Property is my favorite class and the professor there is my favorite professor, that Contracts class is never very clear and that I think Contracts is by far the most difficult class. (I also told him that he was very successful with putting the fear of God into us, but I think he took that as a compliment....) In my defense what I actually said about the clarity issue was that our Torts teacher was very clear and suddenly it got quiet and I realized that he might take that as a hint that I thought he was doing a bad job teaching the class. Tried to salvage that one with things like "It's not a bad thing" and "It's just different but both are good". You can imagine how well that worked. Well I guess you can fault me for not being completely honest. I also decide to get a Mexican Coke (made with real sugar not corn) at lunch because I never get stuff like that....This will come into play later on.


Lunch is over and we have Property before Contracts. Property was great as usually. Full of jokes that I would tell you but I tried to tell one to a non-law student yesterday and it didn't work out so well. By the time Contracts roles around, I'm feeling pretty good. I've forgotten about all the stupid things I've said. You see I have this formula worked out. A few of us in the class, he already knew by name from an orientation event. As far as I could tell, none of us had yet been called on in class. My theory was that he called on those he didn't know because he wanted to be more intimidating. In fact,  I shared this theory with one of the other students that went to lunch right before class started.


I'm not so great at foreshadowing but I think that you can kinda guess what happened. I got called on. Several times. I know the selection was probably random but I can't bring myself to fully believe that given my lunch word vomit. I'm trying my absolute hardest and doing ok but man it took concentration not to wet myself. Somehow I lost the ability to read the words on the powerpoints that explained the hypotheticals so at times I would have to be corrected on the facts. My strategy was to repeat over and over again in light of each new situation the only thing that has really clicked in this class for me. He did mention that always tying things back to the basic principle was good but I was too frazzled to notice that as a comment at this point. Then a little more than halfway through the class, I notice that my blood sugar is getting low (remember that coke that I wanted....yeah). I'm up a creek without a paddle. I didn't have any food with me and anyway I would never eat in class and especially not his class. Also, there is no possibility of getting up to get something because he has been questioning me all class off and on and I think he would probably notice if I got up and walked out. I'm loosing concentration quickly and when he next calls my name I realize I do not know what he has been talking about for the last several minutes. Rather than admit I wan't paying attention (he would have made me answer anyway), I answer the EXACT same thing that the person before me answered which was wrong....I'm pretty sure that it could not have been more clear that I was not paying attention. Go me. I know just how to do them.


Anyway at the end of class I feel pretty dumb. My friend Mitch is kind enough to point out that my theory of how people get called on just blew up in my face. Jason reminds me that I was asking for it with lunch. I fix the blood sugar issue (not before Jason had a few good laughs at my silly irrational behavior that comes with low blood sugars), and get back to work. I have a raging headache from the sugar (sugar and caffeine both do that now), but I have to get a lot done. I had an outline that needed to be emailed off to a professor. I out what I remember to be the appropriate title for the subject line in and send it. She sends it back asking me to fix "the title". I would just like to point out that is an ambiguous term. I go back through notes and don't specifically have the way to title things written down so I ask someone in my section about it. I got super annoyed when the only difference in my subject line was where the dots went and the fact that I only put my last name. So I fix it and send it again. Only to get back a message congratulating me on getting it right in the subject line and asking me to correct the file name to mirror it. Wow. Once again I feel stupid realizing what "the title" meant.


At this point, I've given up on salvaging any productive drive and once again determine that early morning studying will have to be the answer. Mostly I needed to go dancing. I was at my breaking point and dancing was the perfect fix. It was amazing. I walked away smiling and happy about life. Then I get home to find out some disturbing news. One of my roommates had smelled a gas leak which turned out to be from the dryer hose. When the gas guy came to the house, he also found dangerously high levels of carbon monoxide. We don't currently (although that is changing tonight) have any monitors in our house for that sort of thing. If we had went to bed before knowing about that problem, odds are none of us would have woken up again. (I'm still thanking the Lord over and over again that there was another leak that did have an odor). The problem ended up being that there is not enough ventilation in the room that has the gas heater. They turned our gas off until it was fixed. Essentially our house isn't up to code (luckily we got some of it fixed today but we are still having some inspectors come look at the house to be sure that we are indeed safe). Anyway, I was up late with my roommates figuring out what demands needed to be made and actions to take if we ran into any obstacles.


I did get up early today and now I'm dead tired. I'm going to bed in just a few minutes because I also need to get up early tomorrow to finish reading because I was much too tired to pull myself through a Contracts reading today. There was one thing that made me feel worlds better about life. Shortly before Contracts today I got this email:

Diana,

 

I was just getting ready for class, and I remembered that I wanted to commend you on your contribution to class yesterday. You were excellent.

Contracts Professor

So apparently I'm not completely stupid. Although next time I should probably take a different course of action to figure that out. Oh and don't worry...that email definitely won't go to my head so long as it takes me 3 hours minimum to get ready for one hour of Contracts.

Culture Shock

I used to always joke that coming down to Utah would be a big culture shock after Boise. Well thank you God for the irony because I just so happen to be experiencing culture shock now. I really feel a bit out of place.

There has only ever been one other time in my life that I picked up and moved to a place where I didn't know anyone (when I moved to Boise). I think it was different then because I lived in the dorms my first year and immediately had a group of people to hang out with. Here it has been much harder to get to know people. I know I haven't been here long, but it would be nice to have some friends and not just acquaintances.

Part of the problem here is everyone's obsession with marriage. It is hard to get to know a guy that you just want to be friends with because you are automatically being evaluated for marriage and they are wary of you expecting something. I swear if too many more of my conversations get awkward all of a sudden I'll lose it and just tell them to chill out. 

I know it will get better. I'm just frustrated right now.

And now for something completely different. I have a soup recipe that I was skeptical of but tried it today and it is amazing. It is a roasted cauliflower soup which sounds kinda weird. The end result has the texture of a delicious creamy potato soup with a slightly different taste. It will be a great alternative to potato soup for me. It's not that I can't have potatoes. I can in limited amounts, but potatoes have a higher glycemic impact because they are so easy for the body to process. In contrast, cauliflower has a glycemic score of one which is almost as low as it gets. Anyway, here is the recipe just in case you want to try it. I promise it is super healthy and super yummy (a rare combo).

Roasted Cauliflower Soup

1 large head cauliflower (3 lbs), cut into florets

1 large onion sliced

2 cloves garlic halved (I used three because I like garlic)

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 14.5 oz cans of chicken broth

1 cup water (somehow I missed this but the soup still turned out fine)

1 bay leaf (I didn't have one)

1 teaspoon snipped fresh thyme (also didn't use)

1 cup half and half or light cream (did you know that they make fat free half and half)

1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)

1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a large roasting pan (a baking sheet works fine) toss cauliflower, onion, garlic and olive oil. Roast, uncovered, for 30 minutes, stirring once after 15 minutes.
2. In a large saucepan combine the roasted cauliflower and onion, broth, the water, bay leaf, and thyme. Bring to a boil, reduce heat. Simmer, covered, for 20 minutes.
3. Discard bay leaf. Working in batches, transfer soup to food processor or blender; process or blend until smooth (make sure you leave a way for the steam to vent while you blend...otherwise the top might go flying). Return soup to saucepan. Stir in half-and-half, salt, and pepper. Heat through (do not boil).

Makes 8 side-servings

Per serving: 98 calories, 9 g fat (less if using fat free half-and-half), 13 mg chol., 741 mg sodium, 4 g carbs, 1 g fiber, 2 g pro.

Enjoy :)

One Week Down

I'm down right giddy that it is Friday right now...just over the wall excited. I've finished my first week of law school (insert choirs singing heavenly praises...no really do)! First, I should tell you that it has gotten better since Tuesday. The contracts professor has mellowed down a bit. I think he wanted to put the fear of God into us and it worked. Everyone seems to spend a little longer on Contracts. Second, I really thought this week would fly by and it definitely did not. It crawled along. About the middle of the week, I felt that it should be over all ready.


Ok now down to business. I was called on today in Torts. Somehow whenever someone else is being asked questions, I know the answers. Getting called on is a whole new experience. Everything you thought you knew about the case is gone...out the window like it never existed. Thank you for case briefs (essentially a system to get down most of the facts/holdings of the cases while studying). I won't say it was a flawless performance, but I think I did ok. I definitely was able to give the right answers eventually even if it took verbally reasoning it out. Still it is a very jarring experiencne. I feel like Torts is a pretty straight forward class. Our teacher is VERY good about giving us bright-line rules and helping us clearly see where the ambiguity lies. A tort is a civil action to recover damages for a wrong done. For instance, if someone injures you in some way (assault and battery), it could be criminal but the person hurt also has a civil course available to recover damages. Torts is a very broad subject because there are intentional torts, unintentional torts (negligence) and strict liability cases. It is interesting stuff.


My hands down favorite class and favorite professor is property. He is so nerdy awkward but extremely funny that class just flies by. I can't really describe him in a way that does justice. I enjoy the subject too. We are talking about water rights right now, and it is some pretty fascinating stuff. One thing that is great is that our Property professor seems genuinely concerned if ever anyone doesn't understand a point in his class. It is refreshing.


Contracts has gotten easier. I'm still not looking forward to the day I get called on in class.


Legal writing has taken off. We have an outline due for our first memorandum on Wednesday. Essentially we have a "client" with a potential case that doesn't want to move forward unless she is likely to win. Based on a few similar cases we have to decide the likely outcome all nicely reasoned out to a tee. As the semester goes on we will have to find our own cases, but for now we were given two cases to use. Today the class was buzzing with arguments for why the case would be successful or why it would fail. It has definitely led to interesting discussions and helped me feel like this is definitely something I want to be doing with my life.


I've been good about not letting law school completely take over my life. On my late nights, I'm still out of here by 7:30 pm. I still haven't met to many people here besides law students. I meet my new ward on Sunday and I'm going swing dancing tomorrow so I think that will get better soon (or at least I hope). I think I'm going to brief one more case before heading off to a farmers market to check out the produce. I'm excited. :)

First Days of Classes

Ok so this is just going to be a quick one because I'm going dancing in a little bit to ensure that I keep my sanity. Most of the professors, I'll describe in more detail later on, but I wanted to update you on how classes are going now that I have attended all of my major classes at least once.


Torts- This was my first class yesterday. I'll refer to my professors by their class title just in case someone happens to know them. I was about 10 minutes early and all the seats were taken except for in the back and I hate sitting in the back. People are really into this law school thing. My Torts professor uses the Socratic Method but overall is very nice about it. I don't think any of the people called on (I wasn't one of them phew) felt ashamed or pushed to hard. On one question that the girl was unsure on, I even ventured to raise my hand and was called on. I answered correctly for the most part. Defining stuff clearly rarely works out when you try in law school. Still I felt very brave. The greatest thing and I didn't realize I would feel this way until other classes, the professor gives clear answers (insert choir singing praises to the Lord here and no I'm not joking). She tells you when there is ambiguity after a while so that you can stop beating your head against a wall.


Legal Writing- Not much to say. It is the class with the most amount of work and the only class that asks us to produce stuff during the semester. They are wasting no time with that either. I first memo is due in two weeks and a draft in a week I believe.


Property- I'll have to write more about this professor later. He is great and the epitome of a nerdy professor with the look and all. He also does the Socratic Method...kinda...it is based on seating chart and moves down the rows. We chose our seating chart today (the second day of class) so he has just been asking for volunteers for the last few days. I really enjoy this subject matter too. Interesting cases about harpooning whales and other crazy stuff.


Contracts- This is the real reason I am writing. I want to get stuff off my chest. All the fears and concerns about law school professors were justified in this class. This guy is brutal. According to him, there is no "pass" and no "I'm not prepared" in his class. If you are called on, you will answer questions no matter how well you do until he is done with you. He isn't particularly kind either. He is funny so it takes the edge off a little bit but he is very good at belittling an argument. Perhaps what is most frustrating is that he eggs on arguments that in the end have no clear answers. I know this is part of law school, but rather than asking us to make a case one way or the other (like the other professors), he belittles an argument to the point that it seems impossible and so when you change he belittles the next one. It is really disheartening. He makes it clear when you are venturing into territory he doesn't want to go into by just shutting you down. Needless to say, I'm terrified of even seeming unprepared in this class. I have a feeling that this will be the hardest class for me. 


More to come later...now sanity saving time. 

It's Official- I'm in Law School

Orientation is finally over! It is silly because although it was important information, it was nothing spectacular, and yet somehow I still feel accomplished. I'm officially a law student with all the rights and responsibilities therein. Ok so it is heavily weighted to the responsibilities side, but I guess I can live with that.


Let me tell you about the moment everything changed from being an awkward, uncomfortable meeting with lots of strangers to an important gathering with fellow classmates- when we all started moving into our study carrels. How dorky can we be? For those of you that don't know, a study carrel is just a desk with locking drawers, and each law student gets one to use for the year. We were assigned study carrels on Wednesday and that afternoon most people started moving-in. That might sound funny; why would people move-in to a desk? Well for us it is a big step to have all our books in the place where we will be spending A LOT of time. I was assigned carrel #281. During my process of moving in, I started hearing some buzz. "Whoever has #281 is lucky". I was a little confused, but I spoke up. Apparently, I'm the only student in the first year class with a carrel next to a window (the law building is significantly lacking in windows so naturally light is a rare commodity). I was told that my carrel had been named Versailles and that I would get asked to trade by a few people. I politely declined. Still as I meet new people, I'm constantly told how I'm the envy of the class.


After moving in, many of us settled in to do some work. First day assignments are no small task. However, it became more of a social gathering of sorts with everyone getting to know each other a bit. It is finally sinking in that these are the people that I will be spending buckets of time with. I even feel like I could consider one or two of the people in my section friends. It is a nice feeling.


I've met so many people in so short a time and in all sorts of clothing (we had a different dress code for each day: casual, business formal, business casual) that I forget names and even faces so easily. On Friday at the bbq, a guy came up and was talking with me. I remarked how we hadn't formally met and he corrected me. Apparently we had had a long conversation alongside the study carrels the day before which he proved by spouting off several things about me (where I'm from etc.). I now vaguely remember that conversation and feel like an idiot for not realizing that it was him. I plead sleep deprivation (that's valid right?).


On Friday morning, we were supposed to meet with our alumni mentors (real working people). In anticipation of this event, I looked my mentor up online. Her firm had a little paragraph about some of her interests and guess what??!!! She dances ballroom. I was so excited that we had something non-law relate in common...ok ballroom is my least favorite and I would never compete like she did, but she would definitely understand my love of dance. AND THEN....she isn't at the breakfast. It was heart-breaking and pretty anti-climatic. I talked with a different mentor at my table. He practices family law and is passionate about mediation which are both things I've considered doing. However, he has a very negative outlook on life in general. He told me quite clearly that law school was the worst three years of his life. He did not really seem to like his work much although I do think he at least feels that his clients have legitimate claims (he works mostly with fathers trying to get rights to see their kids etc.). Overall, he just seemed very pessimistic. I tend to be optimistic so it was definitely difficult to talk with him. He was very nice though and told me I could contact him anytime even though I wasn't his mentee. 


One last thing about orientation ( I know this is getting long). We had one more mock class. It was on the free exercise of religion and it was fascinating. I could do a whole post on the subject but that isn't really the purpose of this blog so instead I'll just give a few things I observed or thought was funny. He started by telling how to think like lawyers. "Your honor-On the day of the murder, my client was not in Chicago; and if he was in Chicago, he was not in the warehouse; and if he was in the warehouse, he did not have a gun; and if he had a gun, it was self-defense". We all laughed and he told he was mostly serious. Lawyers use a form of argument called arguing the alternative and he told us we had better learned to do it right and subtly. 


Since he didn't have a class list, he asked for volunteers rather than randomly calling people out. Just like the last mock class, there were those jumping out of their seats to prove themselves. I'm not entirely sure what they are trying to prove. The professor who was teaching is not a first year professor and won't remember if he has people later on. I can only assume that it was an effort to show the rest of the class their stuff. That is I would assume that if I made those sorts of assumptions ;)....Anyway, the professor was merciless in some regards. When asking questions, he would quickly cut anyone who was wrong off with a no and move on to the next person without letting the other finish. One of these questions went on for so long that when someone finally got it right, everyone clapped. Anyone trying to go off on tangents were also cut off with a somewhat exasperated "I just want you to answer the question".  The whole class was interesting and I left confident that law school will not be the three most miserable years of my life. 


A few brief notes to close out my very long post. I finally moved into my place in Provo today! YAY!!!!! No more sleeping on the couch. I also have a positive food find to report. I had heard of Ezekiel sprout wheat bread before and knew from forums that it is particularly good for people with reactive hypoglycemia. It is flourless. Instead, it is made up of multiple grain sprouts making it more difficult (slower) to process than even whole wheat products aka better for people on a low-carb diet. I got a loaf ($4 ouch). I was skeptical of the taste, but I made a grill cheesed sandwich with it and it was delicious. It has a nutty flavor and isn't dry (although I still suggest drinking with lots of water...hello fiber). Needless to say, this will be the bread that I get most of the time from now on despite the cost. Hint for anyone that wants to try it-look in the frozen foods sections. They have several flavors that range in price, but the one I got is the plain one that is the cheapest. 


Love you all!

The First Day of Law School...Orientation

I am finished with the first day of orientation...only two more to go. Why we need three days of orientation is beyond me, but it's not like we have much of a choice. I won't describe the day in detail (it was mostly presentations), but there were some more or less interesting things that happened.


We started out by meeting with our student mentors. Our law school class broken up into six legal writing sections. The people in each legal writing section share every class together. We met in our sections to meet our mentors and have a question and answer session. We did a get-to-know-you activity that consisted of everyone saying their name, undergraduate location and major and our favorite movie. It was not an effective way to learn names. After one or two people took their turns, everything became a blur. 


The session was mostly our mentors spouting off advice to us, and then telling us to ignore any advice we got and find our own method. Kinda funny I thought. Ignore everyone's advice except mine. One thing they said is that our legal writing classmates are going to become some of our closest friends. While I think that is probably true, it is difficult to imagine that when you are in a room full of strangers. 


The other highlight of our day was the mock class where we went through a case using Socratic Method. The case was pretty straightforward and generated a lot of discussion. However, it shattered my view during law school students would be more objective in their comments. After a while, the discussion devolved into an ideological argument using mostly speculation rather than facts from the case. Silly really. People were practically jumping out of their seats.


Nothing else super excited happened. I've been dubbed the smurf turf girl because I am the sole representative from Boise State. I'm ok with that :)

My First Day in Utah

I was so excited last night I barely got any sleep. Three hours tops I think. To be fair, I wouldn't have gotten much sleep anyway due to a great conversation with a friend that lasted later than intended. Needless to say 6 am came too early. Then in the car, once again excitement took over. No sleep.

We (my parents and I) made it to Provo quickly. I don't actually move into my place in Provo until Saturday but I had some errands to do. Student ID-awful picture but check. Wander aimlessly around the law building that I'm going to be spending most of the next 3 years of my life in-check. Paid an arm and a leg and probably my first-born child as well for books-check (the total even ended up being less than expected). It was hot and humid. I've lived in a desert my whole life. Humid=gross. 

After tramping around the campus for a while, we headed off to my favorite part of the day, back to Salt Lake to see my brother, sister-in-law and best of all my baby niece. I'm so excited to spend tomorrow with them before orientation gets under way. Unfortunately also on the agenda are my first day assignments. No rest for the soon to be law student.

Final note- There is a store here called the Sunflower market that is absolutely awesome for produce! I got broccoli, 2 cucumbers, a zucchini, a tomato, a grapefruit, carrots, green onions, 2 oranges and 4 white nectarines all for about $10. YAY!

Now bed....or futon.

Not What I Wanted But What I Needed

For anyone who doesn't know, I am a very religious person. One of the things that I have recently learned is that God rarely gives me what I want, but He does give me exactly what I need. For example, I wanted to spend my summer in Boise where I had lots to do and lots of friends to do it with. Instead I spent my summer in Idaho Falls. I did this primarily to spend time with my sister before law school. With the irony that accompanies all life, my sister got a job in Douglas, AZ and left me part way through the summer. Idaho Falls has not been the experience I wanted but it was definitely the experience I needed. It gave me time with my parents as they helped me figure out my new diet without having too many melt-downs. Also, I've had an amazing experience at church. I'm part of a small branch (congregation) here but somehow the people here are just the people I needed to meet. In three short months, I feel completely part of the branch and close to several of the members. I'll share just one more small example of the Lord's mercy in my life. JT, one of the members of the branch, also has a lot of diet restrictions. Her's restrictions are not the same as mine, but it is nice to talk to someone who knows what it is like to be the only one not having a root beer float at an activity. Without her to talk to, I would have had a harder time adjusting. Everything in my life points to a God that knows and loves me. Even more, He loves me enough to loving replace what I want with what I need no matter how unfair it may seem at first. I have every confidence that if you closely look at your own life you will find that He has done the same for you. <3  

Why I Am Going To Law School (Part 2)

First I just have to say that I am in a fantastic mood! Things are really coming together. I found an institute (religion) class to take that is as close to the law building as I'm going to get and that works well with my schedule. I finished with work here la and I have had great weekend (complete with some delicious sushi) to close out my last bit of summer. Everything is starting to sink in and it is just great feeling knowing that I am about to move on to my next big adventure. Even better than that, I know that this is what I'm supposed to be doing.


I think I will probably make a bullet list to finish off why I'm going to law school. At least we'll see how this works.

• Security- Money has not and will  never directly be one of my motivations for attending law school. However, the plain truth is that a law degree will give me better job opportunities than a bachelor's degree in political science. There is no guarantee that I will get an amazing high paying job, but the likelihood that I will be able to provide for myself or a family if I ever need to will be substantially increased.
• The challenge- This may sound arrogant, and I promise that isn't the intention. The simple fact of the matter is that I found my undergraduate education to far from challenging. It was definitely more difficult than high school and required time and commitment. However, I didn't find it intellectually challenging. I want a challenge, and I think that law school can provide that challenge. 
• Improvement- This goes hand in hand with the other two reasons. I believe law school will improve me. President Gordon B. Hinkley counseled us to get as much education as possible. Law school is a way for me to follow that counsel. Besides learning the skills necessary to become a lawyer, I will need to learn discipline, self-control and confidence to a level I've have never had to achieve before. In short, the tests, trials and experiences of law school I believe will make me an overall better person. 

Everything I've said are definitely part of why I'm going to law school, but most importantly I feel that this is exactly what I need to be doing. Throughout most of my undergraduate years, I felt my time there would never end, and to some extent, I didn't want it to end. I had day dreams of great jobs that I would have without really thinking to much about them. The closer I got to graduation, the more I realized that I needed some solid plan instead of a dream. Even early in the process of planning for law school, I was more whimsical than serious. After my LSAT and after speaking with a representative from BYU at a law fair, I knew I wanted to go to law school and that if I got in I would attend BYU. I prayed about my decision and felt good enough to go forward with the plan but not absolutely sure. When I received the phone call from BYU telling me that I was accepted, I'm not sure I can describe the overwhelming feeling of peace. I knew that my decision to go to law school was the right one for me at this time in my life. For reasons I don't yet understand, Provo and law school are what needs to be my next adventure/challenge. Knowing this is a great source of comfort. I am nervous beyond belief, but I know I can handle whatever comes my way.

Why I'm Going To Law School (Part 1)

I have been planning on writing on this subject since I created this blog. Now that I have a 2-3 page paper assigned on this same subject, I've been stalling. I fully plan on adapting what I write here for that paper. However, typical of me, as soon as there is an actual purpose to my writing, the procrastination starts. Well here goes nothing.


Answering this question is proving more difficult than I originally imagined. It is not that I don't feel strongly about going to law school. It is that the reasons have changed and so slowly that I didn't notice the change at first. With that in mind, I think I should start with what first prompted me to look into going to law school. 


When I started college as a political science major, I was determined that I would not be "one of those poli sci students", the ones in it just to bide their time until law school. In my eyes, these students did not actually love the study of political science like I did and were simply waiting to move on to something that they considered to be bigger and better. I made a blanket judgement without considering other options and held stubbornly to this viewpoint for over two years. 


In the spring of my junior year, I interned for the Senate Judiciary and Rules committee in the Idaho Legislature. I did a lot of research mostly on what the other western states were doing or had done with the issues the committee was working on. These issues mostly centered around criminal law, and I was amazed by the depth and intricacies of the many laws that I read. I spent most of my time at a desk in the office of the communications director for the majority caucus. There was a constant parade of lobbyists, senators and other interesting people to this room and question was inevitably asked: "What are you planning on doing with your degree?"  At this point, I had decided that I wanted to go into lobbying. During on of these many conversations, I was told that if I wanted to go into lobbying I might want to look at law school as a way to do it. I somewhat dismissed the idea, but began paying attention to the different influential lobbyists I met at the state house. Most of them shared a common theme, they were all lawyers. Dang it! I had to concede that there would be a real benefit to the legal education I had previously scorned.I firmly believe that life is full of irony. Realizing how ironic my decision was in light of my previous attitude, I decided to apply for law school. 


While I remember vividly this conversation and the specific moment I decided law school would be my goal, looking back, there were many other reasons why law school all of a sudden seemed so appealing. As I said before, my research in my internship gave me an exposure to law that I had not previously had. I worked mostly with statutes but was able to see how case law affected the whole process. Several changes to statutes were made at the suggestion of the Supreme Court of Idaho and a few proposed changes were the direct result of an unpopular decision. At the same time, I also had a Constitutional law class. Here I was more extensively introduced to case law and how important it is in the United States. I was fascinated by the whole process. Studying law, it seemed, would be more interesting than I had previously allowed myself to consider.


The final nail in the coffin is maybe somewhat silly. In preparation for the LSAT, I purchased a few study manuals. I ended up absolutely loving the dreaded logic puzzles section of the LSAT. I felt like I was playing a game every time I studied. I knew that if law school and being a lawyer required a similar style of thinking that I would be very happy in the profession.


That is how I decided to go to law school. I think that my reasons for attending law school are a bit different and less specific now. I will try to explore those later today or tomorrow. Hopefully, those reasons will be shorter and more to the point or I will how a ton of editing to do for my essay. :-/

Nerves

In just a week and a half, I start law school orientation. I am off-the-wall excited! This is a new chapter in my life and I'm eager to get started. However, there are a few things that I am very nervous about. 


The Workload: The syllabus for my Legal Writing and Research class has been posted and soon the rest of the syllabus will be posted and first day assignments out. Looking at my syllabus from just one class, I have my work cut out for me. The amount of reading alone for this class is a lot, and this is my writing class. I expect all of the others will have a lot more reading. To top it off, there are writing assignments requiring a lot of research. I'm not too concerned about writing because I am a fast writer. However, I'm pretty slow reader, and I'll be reading things often written in legalese. It will be like learning a new language for the first semester. I'm finally starting to see that I literally will be spending almost all my time studying.


The Socratic Method: This is the part of law school that scares me the most. Many teachers in law school use the Socratic Method, and I've already been told that my Torts professor can be pretty aggressive with it. A teacher using the Socratic Method, instead of lecturing, asks a series of questions about the case at hand. Most of the time, students are called on randomly. The teacher will then push the point to make force the student to defend a position. There is rarely one right answer and sometimes no clear answer at all. The pressure is on to be able to clearly articulate a well-thought-out argument on demand. While I think that I will get used to this system and be able to manage, for now I'm super nervous to be called on in class.


Food: I'm starting to get the hang of my new diet, but it is about to be put to the test in a whole new way. I'll be on campus pretty much all day every day. My meals will have to be planned everyday to a tee. I likely will need to go grocery shopping each week. This will certainly be a challenge with everything else I have to get done. 


Overall, I'm exciting. This is a new challenge and I'm ready to rise to the occasion. I am excited for a new system of learning and a change from undergraduate studies. I have a 2-3 page essay to write on why I'm attending law school for my legal writing class. Next week, I plan on using this blog to write out my thoughts so that I can modify it for that essay. This weekend I'm off to my branch camp-out for some last minute summer fun.


Healthy food discovery: My new favorite hummus: http://www.choosingraw.com/sweet-potato-hummus/. I love sweet potatoes and I love this recipe!

Everybody Knows That Lawyers are Dishonest

I feel that I should first address the issue behind the question- why law school?- before I answer the question with my personal reasons. Most people who have asked me this question ultimately end up informing me that the legal profession is a dishonest profession in one way or another. Some have the decency to say that we could use more honest lawyers implying that I would join the ranks of the few honest lawyers in the field. Others seem to believe that I will be tainting myself in some way by becoming a lawyer. Believe me when I say I have no misguided ideas about how my chosen profession is popularly viewed. It is not that I don't care. I simply believe this view to be inaccurate.


No profession is inherently dishonest. I will certainly grant that there have been and probably continue to be dishonest lawyers in the world. However, as far as I'm aware there is no stipulation or notice is the universal lawyers manual that says a lawyer must be dishonest. As far as I know, there is no dishonesty quota that must be met to maintain bar approval. In fact, as far as I can tell, lawyers still maintain complete control over their actions and each choice that they make. My point is there is such a thing as an honest lawyer and I'm not cynical enough to believe that there is even a scarcity of such lawyers in existence.


The legal system is an adversarial system. That is the fancy way of saying that it pits one side against another side. I believe that the tendency is for one side to view the other side as dishonest because they believe so wholly in their position. Really each side represents two different points of view. A judge makes the ultimate decision as impartially as possible for a human being. It is a lawyers job to try to influence a judge's opinion. Judges know the law well. Therefore, it serves lawyers best to honestly try to persuade a judge with thoroughly research of the law.


I plan on being an ethical (which obviously includes honesty) lawyer. However, bringing morals to a corrupt field is not one of my objectives for becoming a lawyer simply because I believe that not only my morality but my professionalism will best be benefited by honesty in a field such as this. Recently in a article I read on being an honest lawyer, I found this prayer by Sir Thomas Moore, patron saint of lawyers:


"Lord, grant that I may be able in argument, accurate in analysis, strict in study, candid with clients, and honest with adversaries. Sit with me in my desk and listen with me to my client's plaints, read with me in my library, and stand beside me in court, so that today I shall not, in order to win a point, lose my soul!" 


This is the type of sentiment I hope to convey in my every day dealings throughout law school and beyond.

The Month Everything Changes...

August is here! And if today is any indication, it will be a very rainy August. This is a very big month for me. I start law school in a new state and what's more at a church school. I'm expecting a bit of a culture shock. Things in Boise, even among the Mormon population are quite a bit different than at BYU. Maybe I'll like the change; maybe I won't, but in any case I'm stuck with it. Two weeks from today I will be leaving for Utah. I'll stay with my brother for the week of orientation (three thrilling days full of presentations and such...insert enthusiasm) in Salt Lake and make my way down to Provo. Law School classes start earlier than undergraduate classes at BYU so finding a place that I could move in before my classes start on the 22nd was difficult and finding a place that I could move into before orientation proved impossible. Luckily, I bought a contract from a girl getting married on the 19th and will be able to move in on the 20th a mere two days before classes start (cutting it a bit close). Everything has fallen into place pretty nicely and I'm ready to get this show on the road but even though I know it will all start this month, it still feels really far away. I'm really excited but I'm also getting really nervous. My next few posts I hope to explain my reasons for going to law school ( another question I wish I had a dollar for every time I'm asked) and what I'm so nervous and excited about. 


Health food discovery: Truvia- an all natural sweetener made from the stem of a plant called stevia. It has no calories (which I'm not really concerned about) and no glycemic impact (YAY!). I've already used it to make some delicious smoothies and this recipe: http://truvia.com/recipes/sweets/other-desserts/lava-cake/. Everything has turned out great and I think there new tagline should be I can't believe it's not sugar. :)